The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a risk assessment of cloned meat which concluded that this meat is just as safe as conventionally produced meat.The Senate also passed legislation that orders the Agriculture Department to determine if consumers would approve of cloned meat.
Cloning does not manipulate the animal’s genetic material or change the animal’s DNA. Instead, it is assisted reproduction. Cloning essentially makes an identical twin of the animal cloned. Animal clones are not genetically engineered animals.
“Extensive evaluation of the available data has not identified any subtle hazards that might indicate food-consumption risks in healthy clones of cattle, swine, or goats,” said the FDA’s final assessmen. “Thus, edible products from healthy clones that meet existing requirements for meat and milk in commerce pose no increased food consumption risk relative to comparable products from sexually derived animals.”
However, sheep cloning might still be dangerous, according to the FDA. The FDA also said that cloned cattle “may pose some very limited human food consumption risk.”
According to the FDA, cloning enhances the ability to have the best possible quality of meat. Cloning will also help farmers where their whole livelihood depends on farming by increasing their profit. Also, these ranchers will be able to select the best animals for the product.
Cloning meat is also said to help endangered animals, such as the banteng and the guar.
Fran Moore, a first-year and former vegetarian, is skeptical about cloning meat.
“The concept is just weird and I can’t imagine it being healthy,” Moore said. “It just really bothers me.”
Moore is not the only one who is skeptical of the cloned meat. Even with the FDA’s approval, objections keep rising because of past decisions the FDA have made, such as their decision to allow Vioxx to be on the market. Vioxx ended up giving users heart attacks and strokes.
“Just because something was created in a lab doesn’t mean we should have to eat it,” said Maryland senator Barbara Mikulski to CNN News. “If we discover a problem with cloned food after it is in our food supply and it’s not labeled, the FDA won’t be able to recall it like they did Vioxx – the food will already be tainted.”
However, first-year and vegetarian Justin Poe thinks that substituting meat for clone meat could be a wise decision.
“Cloned meat is a very good alternative,” Poe said. “It could save animals’ lives and guarantee that meat is healthier.